Draconis does….. The Silver Bayonet

28th March 2025

Alongside the scout I have been working on a model for an occultist. Not a perfect fit, but I found a WestWind Vampire wars mini that looked as if she may be casting a hex (perhaps).

Standard prime for her, then rolled out some contrast to block it in.

I wasn’t happy with the result they gave – the flesh was too grey and the red of the dress lacked warmth. So I used two shades of my Foundry flesh triad to rework the face and hands.

I also used Mephiston red followed by Evil Sunz Scarlett to brighten the dress. The contrast wasn’t wasted here though, since I used it as a guide for where to lay down the highlights.

The face still hasn’t come out great, but it is functional.

The yellow waist sash had an agrax wash to give it some depth, I added some red wash to the eyes and mouth and then a black splodge for the eye….. not trying anything more on these tbh.

27th March 2025

I may not use a native scout, but I wanted to fill out some of the other soldier options, so decided to try to build one. I used a Wargames Atlantic rifleman, chose the bandana head, left the backpack off and added some milliput feathers to his belt. Then it had the standard prime.

To make it look less like a rifleman still I went for a leather colour for the trousers, and a faded black for the jacket.

For the skin I used Darkoath flesh contrast, with a couple of washes. For a spot of colour I painted the bandana red, and gave hime some faded green cuffs. The pouches and straps were painted in the usual fashion as for the rest of them so far. Then washed with Agrax and highlighted.

Then a few finishing touches, picking out buttons, re highlighting the over boot things and he was finished. I think it will pass for a native scout, but still feels in keeping with the rest.

I may have weathered the jacket a little too much in places though.

19th March 2025

This mini was gifted to me by a friend. She will be used as (potentially) a leader for my wife’s unit once that gets underway, but for now can be used as a veteran hunter or supernatural investigator type for my Brits.

My initial thoughts on colours was to go with a blue and white. Then I drifted towards perhaps a red and white, or red and blue – but to avoid procrastination when I am already making slow progress I opted to go with my initial thought.

The blue jacket could represent a British hussar jacket, or that from another nation. The white is reminiscent of Austrians… possibly 😊 But, it is a fantastical version of the war, so I have some leeway.

I added colour and warmth by giving her red cuffs, and blonde hair. The hair was painted using my old Foundry paints Ochre triad (triads aren’t a new thing…), adding some white to the lightest for the final highlights.

The overall paintjob was relatively straightforward. Gold braiding on the jacket, black drybrushed grey for the gloves and boots. Fur trim was white, given a wash, then a light highlight. Basically various washes and highlights really…. Nothing groundbreaking, just painting 😊

I did have a little trouble on the face. Eyes are my bugbear (well, among my bugbears). I used a crimson wash in the mouth and eye sockets first, then picked out the teeth. Tried black followed by a dash of white for the eyes. Sort of works, and I know I won’t be able to paint a full eye anyway.

Bit of touching up overall and she was done. Pretty happy with how the hair came out tbh.

12th March 2025

Next in line was a mini for the doctor. It is actually a French officer model, but I am going to use it to represent a Doctor for my Brits. Started off with a grey contrast to block in the coat, and red for the jacket.

Then I went about blocking in the other details with black and brightening up the trousers. The coat and jacket were given a nuln oil wash. Followed by painting the cuffs in several shades of red, highlighting the jacket at the same time. Shirt (poking out from under the jacket) was painted in a crisp white and the epaulettes in an old gold. The coat was highlighted with Fenris grey, then given some weathering along the bottom edge. Buttons were picked out in silver on the front, and gold for the cuffs. The hair was given a grey wash then re highlighted.

Please ignore.

Really would like to clear these up….

9th March 2025

Next up for painting was the mounted version of my leader.

For the horse I started out with an overall coat of contrast black. This was followed by a grey drybrush, another layer of Black Templar contrast, and another drybrush, this time with a rubber black.

The rider was painted in the same manner as the foot version of Richmond S Harpe – although I think the hair is a touch lighter, as I couldn’t recall which colours I had used. Unfortunately, during the painting process I managed to snap off his sword halfway ☹ Once I eventually found the broken piece I made a repair attempt with plastic glue, followed by a layer of superglue. You can still see where the break was, but it will pass a cursory look.

Then back to the horse. I painted the saddle blanket in a red, to echo the red sash belt of Harpe. The other blankets I painted in a sheepskin effect. The reins etc were painted in an earthy brown and highlighted up.

3rd March 2025

Slow progress again of late. Hopefully my hobo mojo may pick up again soon.

I initially started work on this chap alongside the heavy cav models, but found that I needed to just focus on one type at a time.

I did some research on the various light cav, then realised that since I had to kit bash the foot model, and was using Austrian bits, my best approach was to go for a scheme that looked like it fitted in with the era, without trying to actually replicate anything.

I went with blue for the jacket and tunic, with gold braiding on them. A spot of colour was added by painting the waistband in red and yellow segments.

The horse…. Well I neglected to get in progress pics, as once I actually got to work on it I just tried to keep at it.

Went for a more earthy brown for this horse, again applied the black socks to help define it a touch. Saddlecloth was in blue to tie in with the rider’s uniform. I drybrushed the horse prior to giving it a wash to bring it all together.

Hope everyone is keeping well,  and getting some hobby in.

If you know how to delete entries on a mobile device please let me know, so I can get rid of these  😀